The Myth of Charter Schools by Diane Ravitch | The New York Review of Books
The propagandistic nature of Waiting for “Superman” is revealed by Guggenheim’s complete indifference to the wide variation among charter schools. There are excellent charter schools, just as there are excellent public schools. Why did he not also inquire into the charter chains that are mired in unsavory real estate deals, or take his camera to the charters where most students are getting lower scores than those in the neighborhood public schools? Why did he not report on the charter principals who have been indicted for embezzlement, or the charters that blur the line between church and state? Why did he not look into the charter schools whose leaders are paid $300,000–$400,000 a year to oversee small numbers of schools and students?
A pretty thorough takedown of Waiting for Superman and the current movement toward charter schools in general. This piece takes me back to where I was originally—skeptical of charters schools in so far as they are looked at as a magic bullet that will solve everything that ails our educational system. What ails the educational system is the same thing that ails America as a whole—gross inequality. And the solutions to that issue are far too revolutionary in some respects and nuanced in others. I can’t claim to have much faith in this country to deal with it in either way at this point.
